December 2016 Newsletter

December 2016

Sports Car Club of America – Yellowstone Region 108

“OVERKIL” was on the license plate of this beauty at the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas car auction. The 1964 Corvette coupe was powered by a supercharged LS9 engine with approximately 700hp. The information sticker on the car indicated that “Money invested in building this car is north of $150,000.” The car was hammered sold at $66,000 including buyer’s commission.

Meeting Minutes

December 2016 Meeting

The monthly membership meeting of the Yellowstone Region SCCA was called to order by Regional Executive Dean W. Johnson on Tuesday, December 6, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., in the GH&R law firm conference room.

Minutes of Previous Meeting: A motion was MS&P to accept without addition or correction the minutes of the October 2016 meeting as published in the October 2016 issue of Fast Times.

Treasurer’s Report: Secretary/Treasurer J. Reuss reported the current checkbook balance and noted that all bills have been paid. A motion was MS&P to accept the Treasurer’s Report.

Election of Regional Officers for 2017: There were no nominations for the positions of Region Executive and Secretary/Treasurer, so Dean and J. agreed to continue in those positions for 2017. New member Bill Blacquiere was nominated to serve as Competition Chair and he agreed to serve in that capacity. New member Guy Cox expressed an interest in serving as Chief of Tech this coming year.

New Business/Announcements: Dean reported that he just received his certification as a Solo Safety Steward. A discussion was held regarding the Year-End Party. It was agreed that the event would be held at the Windmill Restaurant as in previous years. J. will contact the Windmill and set up a date. A discussion was also held about scheduling a “clean-up day” for the timing trailer sometime in early spring. Approval by the Board was provided for the purchase of a new laptop computer for timing.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:45 p.m.

Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2016

By the Roving Regional Reporter

The Team Owner and I attended the 2016 Barrett-Jackson car auction in Las Vegas on October 13-15. As usual, the event was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. However, there were two significant changes at the site that affected the event. First, the convention hall had been nearly doubled in size since last year. On the plus side, the auction block was now located in the center of the hall rather than in the adjacent arena building. On the minus side, the expansion wiped out most of the large parking lot for the “ride and drive” events. As a result, “ride and drive” was now just “ride.” However, professional drivers from the Ron Fellows Corvette Driving School and Dodge SRT did the best they could with what they had to work with. Dodge had three cars, a Challenger, a Charger, and a Viper. The first two were both Hellcats. The Fellows Corvettes were stock C7s instead of the usual ZR1s and Z06s.

On the auction side of the house, we scored second row seats on Saturday afternoon. Discovery Channel was about to start filming and they wanted the auction floor to look crowded. One of the first cars across the block was the Wayne’s World AMC Pacer and it sold for $34,000. Schwing!

The auction started on Thursday, so some of the cars that had been sold were already on their way to their new homes. However, many of the cars that had been sold were still in the convention center with the hammer prices on the spec sheets, so it was a convenient way to check the sale prices.

Last, Barrett-Jackson has developed an app for smartphones that I highly recommend. Called “Barrett-Jackson: Beyond the Block,” it allows you to review information for all the cars on the docket, check TV schedules, live stream auctions, and bid on cars from your phone! The app is free.

J.

Note the $22K sales price listed in the “SOLD” sticker for this 1989 Skyline.

MyT13B’s Corner

From the Regional Executive

Christmas came early this year to the Johnson household in the form of a 3-year Solo Safety Steward (SSS) certification from SCCA. Having two SSSs in the Region allows us to breathe a little easier as well as allowing both SSSs to compete at events. SSSs can apply to be SSS Instructors after at least 5 events over 2 years, including a letter of recommendation.

Let me be the first to welcome the Region’s next Competition Chair, Bill Blaquiere. Bill started autocrossing in 2016 with his 2014 Chevrolet Corvette. The autocross “bug” has really bitten Bill hard and he reported at the December meeting that he recently purchased a C5 Z06 that he is building strictly for autocross. Bill is also active with the Glass Reunion Corvette Club in Billings, where he is the Cruise Director and Webmaster. Bill’s wife, Cheryl, is the Secretary of the Corvette club. Welcome aboard, Bill!

Several other new members at the December meeting expressed interest in assisting at event-based positions like tech inspection, registration, and other functions. It will be great to have the help!

We are currently planning the Region’s Year-End Event for the Windmill sometime toward the end of January. More details will be announced as they become available.

Happy Holidays!

D.W.J.

This 1964 Fiat Nuova convertible sold at Barrett-Jackson for $16,500. The original 499cc engine was updated with a 650cc engine which reportedly made the car “a pleasure to drive.” The recently-restored, show-quality automobile featured “rare suicide doors.”

Race Notes

From the Competition Chair

I started out 2016 with the intention of attending the Solo National Championships in Lincoln, NE. I seem to recall some sort of quote about “the best laid plans…,” but mine started going awry shortly after Christmas 2015 with a collision that damaged the Miata. Later, a variety of mechanical failures plagued the usually reliable vehicle; unfortunately, Nationals didn’t happen for me this year.

The event went on without me with a record 1,302 drivers taking timed runs on September 6-9. The 1,300 entry cap was exceeded on August 10, 2016, so the event site needed to be restructured from 91 acres to 121 acres. What’s next? Possibilities include a third course with drivers running two of the three, or two more days of competition. However, the entries would have to push 1,500 for any serious consideration of event expansion to take place.

The largest group of entrants was Street class cars with 468 drivers comprising the highest total ever in Street or Stock classes. Most point to the 200-treadware rule for the highest-ever participation.

On a more mundane note, while you are cleaning up after your New Years’ party, take a minute to check Snell sticker on your racing helmet. Helmets with Snell Foundation SA2000 and M2000 certifications will expire on January 1, 2017.

Pictured below is the “one that got away.” I really wish that J. would have bought me the 1997 Mazda Miata M-Edition with less than 150 miles (and painted dealer hardtop) that sold at the recent Barrett-Jackson auction for $25,300 (including buyer’s commission)!

See y’all in 2017!

T.M.S.

The Finish Line

From the Webmaster

Two cars at the Hennessey booth at Barrett-Jackson really caught my attention. The first was the Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) Dodge Challenger Hellcat supercharged upgrade. Is the stock 707hp of the Hellcat not enough to get your juices flowing? The HPE Hellcat features 1,012hp, 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds, and a 1/4 in 9.9 seconds at 141mph.

Hennessey also offers some help to C7 Z06 owners who need more than 650hp to “get up to highway speed.” There are 4 HPE packages from the HPE750 ($14,950 installed) to the HPE1000 ($84,950 installed). Personally, I think you would be a piker to go any less than 1,000hp. BTW, “installed” means that you have to provide the Z06.